


Proof of Strength

by kyanve



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Season 3 Spoilers, long before everything blew up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 09:51:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11780664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyanve/pseuds/kyanve
Summary: Short OG-Paladin/pre-Galra-Empire oneshot.When Zarkon ends up having a hard time keeping his political life from dragging in his personal life, he tries to call Alfor for help.Both of them were very wrong about who to be afraid for in the conflict.





	Proof of Strength

At first Alfor was pretty sure he must’ve misjudged timing on the invitation. Usually if Zarkon wanted his help with something related to the unholy mess that was Galra politics and dealing with all of the outlying far-flung factions that had tenuous relationships with the homeworld, it would be said openly and up front. It was common enough for one of them to show up on the other’s homeworld visiting that the various staff and general population of their respective worlds had grown used to it, but there was still an understanding that some of the faction politics became much more unpredictable if Alfor was present as Alfor of Altaea and not the Red Paladin under Zarkon’s command when Zarkon was trying to get past initial posturing and circling. 

(Establishing any stable dealings between Galra leaders that weren’t previously familiar with each other took a long, long period of posturing and circling.) 

And none of the less cooperative factions would show up on the homeworld unannounced, but there was a command ship docked that wasn’t Zarkon’s, and Alfor did recognize the mark as belonging to a leader Zarkon had been less than thrilled to deal with so far - 

So either he’d misjudged timing, or Zarkon had some reason to signal him with a short and informal invitation while there was someone Zarkon was on uneasy terms with present.

He’d already been recognized, acknowledged, cleared for landing, and had his presence relayed forward, so it was a little late to back out either way. 

There were soldiers and drones lining either side of the large bridge to the central fortress, leaving him feeling a little awkward to be cutting along the outside not prepared for formality when he apparently had the worst possible timing for being informal. 

And there was Zarkon, in front of the main gates, with a couple of his guards behind him; Thexra was there with her guard, and it looked like he’d arrived not long at all after she had.

Zarkon definitely noticed him slipping along on the edges, but wasn’t allowing any kind of reaction - Alfor couldn’t blame him, having seen how fast some of the less friendly Galra leaders could be to try to exploit perceived openings, but it also gave him no idea if he’d walked up at a bad time or not. 

He hadn’t paid attention to the antigrav platform that Zarkon’s people were only acknowledging by skirting around it, otherwise acting as if it didn’t exist, until the weird avoidance meant almost leaning on it as something that was apparently ‘out of the way’. Two of Thexra’s people attending it giving him an odd look got his attention about the time he actually looked over at what was under the energy dome over it.

It wasn’t any kind of protective or restrictive barrier; now that he was close, it was just something meant to preserve whatever was in it. 

Which was something unfamiliar, large, made of heavy armored plates, sharp edges, and claws, and very dead, with some strings of beads running between the horns and pointy bits that had probably been attached after it was dead. 

He was still learning a lot of the nuances of Galra protocols, but there was a funny nagging suspicion why Zarkon called him and that maybe he _didn’t_ have the timing wrong after all.

Sure enough, after a couple more minutes, Zarkon found some opening to pass off Thexra to one of his people and Alfor overheard some fast excuse made about “apparently I have another guest to attend to, I will be in the conference room shortly”; he turned and waved Alfor over. “This is about the ongoing research, I presume?” 

It had to be more for everyone else’s benefit there.

“Of course, I just thought I’d check in with Honerva and see if either of you needed anything.” Zarkon had called him there, but if Zarkon needed to be able to pretend he’d just randomly shown up, he’d play along and ask what was going on when it wouldn’t risk undermining whatever Zarkon was trying to do. 

Thexra gave them both an odd look for a moment, then just seemed to accept it, heading in with one of Zarkon’s guard leading her; they had an understanding that Alfor would be careful of showing up around faction politics, but their close association outside of alliances was far from a secret.

And after the Gorvax Incident, _most_ of the less cooperative faction leaders knew to just leave him alone if they didn’t have a reason to involve him.

There were servants, guards, and others who’d overhear until they reached the heavy secured door that led out to the rift and the lab area Honerva had claimed as her territory. As soon as the door closed behind them, Zarkon’s straight, calm, confident posture slipped into harried frustration, glancing over his shoulder occasionally. 

“You have no idea how glad I am you answered so quickly.” 

Alfor nodded; he was still sorting out how exactly he was supposed to help here. “I admit I’m still hardly an expert on your people’s formalities, but the … thing outside the door. Wouldn’t that be more of a…?” He nodded back towards the front of the fortress.

“Courting. A show of skill and strength. Trying to impress me.” Zarkon’s frustrated hunch worsened. “That’s the problem. After they agreed to open communications, she hasn’t been hostile _enough_.” 

“And you want me here to run interference and change the situation so she has to stick more to formalities.” Zarkon nodded emphatically as they walked down the long walkway. “Does she know about…?” He motioned ahead of them, toward the lab door they had almost reached. 

“I think so?” Zarkon gave a helpless shrug. “We’ve been trying to avoid attention, but it hasn’t been exactly _secret_ either, and Thexra’s definitely been trying to get my attention as if trying to prove herself against competition.” He inhaled for a moment with an eyeroll. “ _And_ has made a few passing comments about my choice of companionship.”

Galra might have had different standards than many other species, but they did have their own need for social contact; Zarkon’s position and the mess of politics he’d abruptly inherited had been an isolating factor, leaving him with few opportunities to relax his guard around his own species without inviting some kind of disaster. Alfor and some of the others were about the only close associates he had where he didn’t need to worry about some kind of upheaval or power-play, but many of the off-world groups that no longer recognized the homeworld as an authority and a few groups on Daibazaal itself periodically took issue with his choice of company.

Being in a romantic relationship with an Altaean was something that would only draw more criticism from the more insular and suspicious groups. 

“Have you spoken to Honerva about this?”

Zarkon nodded. “She’s still keeping out of sight on our politics for now. In theory, as long as I can avoid starting a fight over it, Thexra has to give up sooner or later.” He gave another suspicious glance the direction of the fortress. “I strongly suspect half of her interest is her thinking she can get more leverage and expand her own power base without a fight if she can get under my skin.” 

“But?” Zarkon had just basically flailed him over under the table to run interference; calling for help did not imply that plan was going smoothly.

“But she’s making it _hard_ to avoid acknowledging this - like this stunt today! If I accept it at all, no matter how I frame it, it’s as good as officially indulging her attention, and if I outright reject it when we’re in the middle of talks to try to get her people cooperating more with the homeworld, then I risk insulting her and giving her an opening to take offense!” The tangent was punctuated with a few sharp gestures toward the main bridge as if he could both use it as an example and try to shoo it away, hands curved to emphasize claws. “All I can do right now is try to pretend it doesn’t exist and hope she doesn’t find some opening to make it impossible to avoid.” 

“So if it does come up, I should find whatever excuse I can to redirect away from it or make it difficult for her to force an answer out of you.” It was an iffy gamble and Alfor had already been called on playing dumb once before - part of the reason they knew him getting involved in Galra politics was occasionally hazardous - but Thexra’s territory was farther out away from Daibazaal, in the fringes; there was a decent chance she didn’t have enough firsthand accounts to call Alfor out on it. 

Zarkon nodded; there was still that edge of desperation.

“…You know I can only do so much - wedge in other topics, ask questions, make attempts at small talk, but if she’s persistent enough or brushes past it, there’s not much that I could really do.” He shifted weight. “Well, besides something stupid like trying to flirt with her myself to see if I can distract her.”

Zarkon stared down at him with a level, thoughtful exasperation that wasn’t even sure Alfor was joking. He’d seen Alfor joke about something and end up out of ideas and resorting to his bad joke one too many times to think of it as just joking. “And then hope Liastra doesn’t kill you if Thexra calls your bluff?”

“No, she wouldn’t kill me, you saw her reaction after Carvanos. She’d just…need a phoeb or two to stop laughing long enough to call everyone else to make sure they knew. And then another few to look at me with a straight face.” They had a solid foundation of trust in their relationship, and enough knowledge of each other to reinforce it; situations that would’ve looked suspicious to a more jealous and insecure couple just got Liastra sensing something Alfor would never live down. 

And often a need to help Alfor get out of whatever situation he’d gotten himself into - Zarkon was one half of his impulse control and self-preservation instinct; she was the other half and the one who put logistics and contingencies to his curiosity and tendency to get ahead of himself. “…And then she’d take Galra politics as suddenly personal to her.”

Zarkon blanched. “Let’s - try to avoid getting that.” 

There was silence as they both were left trying to come up with some solution to throw Thexra off. “Are things stable enough to just…make things official enough to discourage this sort of thing?” 

Another helpless shrug and a noise of confusion and uncertainty. “I’m mostly trying to keep her and anyone else with bright ideas from aiming at Honerva.”

The door to the lab opened. Honerva looked…

Too happy, too bright. Alfor knew that look, he’d seen it a few too many times when they were younger and dealing more with peers and instructors. It had never been aimed at him, but it still filled him with dread in a way few things could, and invoked a vague sense of pity for whoever had managed to get on her bad side. 

“Actually, I think maybe it is about time that I stopped avoiding politics here; after all, I’m going to be involved one way or another, right?” She was _smiling_.

Zarkon had frozen for a beat, and was still finding his bearings again, caught in an off-guard mixture of terror and awe.

“Are you sure this is a good time to do it?” Alfor held his hands up, open and nervous; he probably couldn’t talk her out of it, but he could at least make some effort so he could say there was warning given. 

“I think this is a perfect time to do it.” 

He didn’t doubt that she had A Plan, he was just quietly terrified of what that Plan was.

Zarkon managed to recover enough to be worried. “You’re going to be taking a risk.”

“I am well aware.” Honerva looked up at him, still smiling, head tilted faintly. “But really, she can’t actually do anything to me while I’m here without starting a fight with you, right?”

“She can terrorize you to some extent, and if you push back hard enough the wrong way, it’d be an opening for her to make a formal challenge - or take your actions as a formal challenge.” Zarkon motioned to Alfor. “And you aren’t exactly capable of something like the Gorvax Incident.” 

Alfor was trained for combat, even if it wasn’t his main focus, had experience even if some of it made Zarkon grumble about putting a leash on him for his own safety, and had the unnatural strength of Altaean royalty; Honerva had none of these things, and had never taken much interest in more than basic firearms training, at least, to Alfor’s knowledge. 

“Zarkon, love?” She sidled up closer, closing the distance until she was up against him, lacing fingers through his much larger claws. “Trust me. I have been paying attention.” 

Zarkon swallowed hard and nodded, squeezing her hand carefully. She lingered a moment and stepped back.

Zarkon turned, squaring his shoulders and taking a moment to mostly compose himself, even if he was staring at the other end of the hallway with visible dread still.

Alfor looked to the other side of Zarkon, to Honerva. “You do have a plan, right?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, fighting back a laugh. “Really, Alfor?” 

Of course she had a Plan. She’d probably been Planning when she’d been listening through the door. Might have even been collecting bits of what she’d overheard and learned in her time on the Galran homeworld just to mull over how to deal with the difference in politics, basic instincts, and cultural standards so she’d have materials to Plan with when the time came; her main focus was her research, but she was more likely to overthink things than not have a clue what she was trying to do, even if politics was usually more Alfor’s forte than hers. 

Zarkon led the way back in; by the time they reached the door to the main fortress compound, he’d settled into a carefully neutral, watchful stoneface, keeping control over any possible show of emotion or reaction. Honerva’s unsettling smile had smoothed over into her own calm, focused, schooled expression.

When they entered the conference room, Alfor stayed back by the door. He had no idea what Honerva’s plan was, and one person being an unknown variable in a potentially volatile situation like this was plenty. Honerva stayed close by Zarkon, walking slightly behind. 

Thexra took a moment taking in the entrance, eyes moving between Zarkon and Honerva; her gaze briefly passed over Alfor by the door, but he was studiously trying to be part of the wallpaper for the moment. 

Which settled her attention on Zarkon and Honerva. 

“My apologies for the delay. There’s a lull in the main project - I hope you don’t object to them joining us?” 

Honerva was holding her position close by Zarkon’s side.

“Well, they are also your guests, and no-one can deny that your alliance with Altaea has proven beneficial in some respects.” Her glance lingered on Alfor a little too long; he recognized bait when he heard it. 

Dangerous bait on a larger scale, but while Thexra was clever and more cautious than some of the other outlying factions, she was still leading one of the groups that favored more distant relations with other races, at best. Even on an individual basis, Galra were slow to warm to outsiders, and it’d led to trends towards political isolationism and ideals of self-sufficiency that had scattered and fragmented them, with further-flung colonies growing unwilling to even maintain relations with other Galra factions. 

It had left them a scattered mess, but the growing push towards uniting larger parts of the species so that they could hold equal footing with less divided groups hadn’t banished the isolationist tendencies, just changed the boundaries of us-against-them for many groups. The more hostile-to-outsiders factions had taken to violent territorialism and occasional raiding; the more ‘neutral’ of them like Thexra’s just favored a lack of any strong ties and tendencies to play multiple sides in conflicts. In red armor, acting as Zarkon’s second as a Paladin, he had more leeway to act on Zarkon’s behalf without undermining his authority, but he was there as King Alfor of Altaea on a social call, visiting a friend. 

If she could get purchase to make Alfor and Altaea look bad, she could push Zarkon into needing to choose between his outside alliances and his efforts to unite enough of the Galra behind him to deny the more violent factions too much power; sacrificing either would weaken his position. She wouldn’t lose if she could cause tensions with Altaea, Zarkon would.

Honerva’s position was hazy but was under Zarkon’s authority by all legal standards, her citizenship primarily homeworld-Galra at this point; Alfor, on the other hand, was not only Altaean but royalty and someone whose actions could reflect on the people as a whole.

He nodded with a faint motion of acknowledging and accepting the surface compliment, but otherwise stayed put, not reacting or joining the conversation between them. 

There were a couple ticks, and then she refocused her attention on Zarkon. “Although there are concerns about your personal relationships and how they might color your investment in your own people.” 

It would’ve been risky in a larger forum, but right now there were only Zarkon’s guard, her guard, Honerva, and Alfor as other parties that might get involved; it wasn’t something he hadn’t heard raised before against Zarkon, either, part of the endless dance Zarkon had going with the more insular factions.

“If your concern is with me, why not raise it directly to me?” Zarkon stiffened when Honerva spoke, and she stepped around. “I am now primarily a citizen of Daibazaal, after all, and it doesn’t befit a leader of your standing to be unwilling to face a matter and state your disagreements openly.”

Thexra narrowed her eyes, flickering her attention between Honerva and Zarkon. “My concern is not really with you.” 

Zarkon inhaled; it hadn’t slid out of control yet, but it had gone into dangerous territory - pushed from circling and testing boundaries of the interaction for where the comfort zones were, to an actual confrontation where either side backing down too quickly would reflect poorly. He raised a hand, drawing Thexra’s attention back to him. “Then you may as well voice it now, before it becomes an impediment to both of our people.” 

Alfor couldn’t catch all of what flickered across her face, but it definitely hadn’t been anything that fit into her plans, and she was re-orienting, returning her focus to Zarkon. “All of your close personal associations are outside of your own species. What does it say about you as a Galra if the closest tie you keep isn’t?” 

“You can stop playing coy about it; you think he’s lessened himself and created a weakness by showing interest in someone you see as ‘weaker’ - that he’s tying himself to someone unworthy of his position and incapable of dealing with the people and other leaders as would be required.” Honerva’s voice was steady; Zarkon had a short, sidelong glance, still more stiff.

Alfor had to share Zarkon’s hope that she knew what she was doing; turning the long, slow process of circling and posturing until all parties had figured out where they stood with each other into a direct confrontation was potentially decisive, but also left little room for error.

Thexra rumbled, and fixed Zarkon with a pointed look, not arguing with Honerva’s assessment. It wasn’t a new point of conflict, Alfor and the others had facerolled it a few times already. It was expected for a leader to provide protection for civilians and protect the elderly, infirm, and otherwise incapable of defending themselves within their sphere - but romantic partners, marriages, and close personal associates otherwise were expected to be contributing and capable in their own right. Thexra’s faction was one of several with a superiority complex towards other species. 

“That’s why your concern is with me, not him - because you’re implying I’m not strong enough to act as his partner; that my presence here is going to weaken him by making him spend energy covering for me.” She took another step forward, towards Thexra and away from Zarkon, looking up at the other Galra leader. Honerva’s eye level was below Thexra’s shoulders, and she was a slight, small thing in front of the Galra. 

And Honerva had just neatly moved the confrontation out of either of their hands; if Alfor stepped in now, it really would read as him not seeing Honerva as able to take care of herself, for one, and that alone would give Thexra ammunition. Alfor defending her while there as a guest would also mean bringing Altaea into the argument; it would take away Honerva’s claim of existing within Galran power structure, which would mean he was taking authority away from Zarkon within his own home. 

And if Zarkon moved, she could claim that Zarkon himself didn’t see Honerva as capable of holding her own. Zarkon’s hands twitched, and Alfor caught his claws extending a little further, even though he made no other movement and was otherwise keeping a still, straight posture.

“So you’re claiming authority and willing to defend your right to it?” Thexra took a step forward herself, looming over Honerva; her posture shifted, hands curved with claws more obviously out, and she was showing teeth as she spoke. 

It was threat-posturing; whether or not she could push it any further would depend on Honerva’s answer, and both Zarkon and Alfor saw the planet-wide opening to leverage a challenge against Honerva over her capability as a potential leader, separate from any romantic conflicts. Alfor was starting to have some doubts himself about how well Honerva had planned this out; giving a Galra known for military leadership an opening to demand trial by combat was suicide. 

“I am absolutely claiming authority.” Honerva took a step forward; she was within Thexra’s reach. “I am already in direct personal service to King Zarkon, with rank, clearance, and authority within my field and related endeavors, as well as among scholarship, academics, research, and engineering for Daibazaal and any other territory under his banner, _after_ serving as one of the most esteemed alchemists and scholars of Altaea.” She took another step forward; if she had a weapon, she would’ve been within reach for it. She’d palmed something out of her pocket, hidden in a balled fist, but Alfor couldn’t see what it was, and Thexra’s attention seemed to be more on the staredown. “And I am well aware of your attempts at challenging my right to my presence within his personal sphere, and the rank that would go along with it, within our home, no less.” Another half-step; she was well within her arm’s reach of Thexra. “I am absolutely willing to defend my right to it, and while you certainly are not _weak_ , I think your strengths are in all the wrong places for you to question his ability to act in your people’s best interests.”

And that had been Honerva all but calling Thexra out for a challenge herself. Alfor couldn’t afford to draw any attention to himself here, and if his nerves were shot, he could only imagine how Zarkon was feeling right then. 

“So you think you’re stronger than I am.” Thexra bared teeth; that was it, there was probably going to be some kind of declaration of conflict, or challenge, or maybe war within the next three minutes.

And then there was the sound of some kind of energy charge going off, and Thexra stiffened, then dropped to the ground like a drone whose control systems had been shut off.

“I may not have claws, teeth, muscle mass, or a fleet of ships behind me…” Whatever Honerva had in her hand retracted as she knelt down, making no effort to hide putting it back in her pocket. “But I think in every other respect, I am _absolutely_ stronger than you.” 

Zarkon didn’t really move, but was staring at Honerva, mouth open. Alfor stared between Honerva and Thexra on the floor, then looked to Zarkon; he was scrabbling for reference points in the basic common ground rules the different Galra factions used with each other, and technically Honerva potentially had some right to claim response to a threat within her home, but he wasn’t sure how nailing a challenger with a stun gun before the challenge was fully formally declared worked.

He let a few ticks go by for Zarkon’s brain to catch up to what had just happened; he was pretty sure Honerva’s stunt had done more for ‘showing off as a courtship display’ than any dangerous hunt ever could. 

The range of time for Zarkon’s internal shut down and restart passed, and Zarkon looked between Thextra, who was groan-grumbling, and Honerva, who was standing back up; Zarkon looked between them again, and stared.

So Zarkon wasn’t sure how any of this worked in the ground rules either.

Honerva turned to him, smiling again, and walked back over to stand beside him. Thexra sat up stiffly, shaking her head sharply as if trying to clear it. 

Zarkon finally closed his mouth, looking down. “…You realize that would normally have been defending your claim via formal challenge.” 

“Oh, I know. I thought she would appreciate not having some large percentage of the collected Galra populations as witnesses to that.” 

Thexra was staring up at Honerva, control finally slipping in favor of her own stare of confusion and disbelief. Honerva smiled back, sliding a little closer to Zarkon’s side, close enough for her arm to be brushing the back of his hand. 

“If you want to insist on a formal challenge, I would be happy to accept. It is the custom for both parties to use their preferred weapons within reason and feasibility in an arena, yes?” Too cheerful, too comfortable with it, too viciously happy. “And there aren’t rules that I know of forbidding experimental designs as long is it is, in fact, a weapon intended for interpersonal use? After all, the intent is to match greatest strength against greatest strength to prove who is more capable…” 

Alfor quietly retracted any doubts he may have had about Honerva’s chances in a fight; this wouldn’t be a fair fight, but it wouldn’t be the slip of an alchemist getting hit by a metaphorical orbital station. He also suspected there weren’t rules against testing experimental magitech weapon designs because it hadn’t ever been a concern before; a Galra leader involved in a challenge like that wouldn’t have the sidestep of being small and physically fragile in comparison to construct the loophole Honerva just had.

Thexra’s stare of disbelief turned more visible nervous, and for a brief moment, she actually shrank back a little before she stood and dusted off, trying to recover her dignity. “…No. I think I will be declining to challenge for the time being.” 

Thexra retreated to stand behind a chair; her guard were visibly uncomfortable, and even she was carrying herself with less confidence and bravado than she’d walked in with. Honerva nudged Zarkon’s hand, looking up. “My king?”

Deferring openly to Zarkon. She really had been paying attention.

Zarkon glanced down, then looked up at one of his own servants, motioning to the head of the table; the servant looked between them, still confused from the confrontation that’d just happened, but scrambled to move one of the chairs from the side of the table next to his at the head of it, leaving one at the right side for Alfor.

It was definitely official now.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes there is a ridiculous amount of headcanon involved here, and what happens when you start applying modern evolutionary psychology and study of social species behavior to sci-fi worldbuilding. I could babble for a WHILE about implications of Galra having a likely evolutionary ancestry in social predators. ~~Also how much Lotor might take after his parents more than he realizes.~~


End file.
